Wild animals should never be kept in zoos. They were born with all the instincts they need to help them survive and thrive in the wild. While that fact may be true, there are still hundreds of thousands of non-domesticated animals still living in zoos today.

Once in captivity, however, animals are no longer self-sufficient. They are, for the rest of the lives, 100% dependent on the zoo staff for food, care, and stimulation. So when a zoo closes, it can’t simply, pull down the blinds, padlock the doors and walk away. No, before slapping on the “Closed” sign they first must figure out how they will care for the animals in their care.

Of course, that is the “ideal” situation. Some zoos, simply choose to abandon their animals, locking the door behind them as their menagerie stares back at them from behind the metal bars. This is exactly what happened to the zoo animals at Parque Zoologico Prudencio Navarro on Spain’s Costa de la Luz.

After years of complaints from concerned citizens, the zoo finally stopped even pretending to care for its critters and closed shop. This was supposed to be good news for the animal activists that fought hard to push the zoo to treat its animals better but now, the lions, tigers, and bears have nowhere to go, no dedicated caretaker and have only been provided with water and food because of some unknown good Samaritans who have taken it upon themselves to tend to the animals. Meanwhile, the zoo operators are long gone.

Of course, these heroes can only do so much. According to reports, the animals are festering in their own feces and urine. Their water moats are dirty and their overall condition is horrific. Additionally, since park staff has left, the security at the park is next to nothing. Dangerous animals could easily escape, putting both people and other zoo animals at risk.

The clock is ticking for these animals. They need to be rehomed to accredited sanctuaries at once so they can get the care they need and finally have a life free from zoo captivity. Please help Care2 call on Spain’s Nature Protection Service (SEPRONA) to rescue the animals and find them sanctuaries today.

On behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife, today Earthjustice filed a notice of intent to sue the Trump administration for failing to protect oceanic whitetip sharks and giant manta rays from being killed by longlines and huge nets used by U.S. fishermen in Atlantic fisheries.
Defenders petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service to list the oceanic whitetip shark and giant manta ray under the Endangered Species Act in 2015. The agency listed the shark and ray as threatened last year, triggering the agency’s obligation to consider conservation measures to protect the species from federal actions when authorizing U.S. fisheries.
Today’s notice letter to the Fisheries Service says officials have not completed required consultations when authorizing fisheries managed under the Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan. The Endangered Species Act requires consultations to ensure that federal actions do not unduly harm protected species.
The agency has not completed these consultations on the pelagic longline (which targets tuna, swordfish and other species), shark drift gillnet or shark bottom longline fisheries — all of which harm oceanic whitetip sharks and giant manta rays and have contributed to the species’ declines.
“These sharks and rays won federal protection, but they’re still being slaughtered by reckless fishing practices,” said Catherine Kilduff, a Center attorney in a statement. “The Trump administration has to follow through by regulating the deadly Atlantic longline and gillnet fisheries. Giant manta rays and oceanic whitetip sharks will keep declining if our government doesn’t do its moral and legal duty to protect them.”
The giant manta ray, with a wingspan that can reach 29 feet, has suffered population declines of up to 95% in some places due to commercial fishing. Similarly, scientists have estimated substantial declines in oceanic whitetip sharks in the Atlantic Ocean, including an 88% decline in the Gulf of Mexico due to commercial fishing. Reducing the primary threat to these species, commercial fishing, is key to their survival and recovery.
Giant manta rays and oceanic whitetip sharks are intentionally hunted in other countries — the sharks for their large fins and the manta rays for their gills, both prized for Asian medicines and cuisine — and are often swept up as bycatch by U.S. fisheries. Gillnets have been called “walls of death” for the harm they do to a variety of marine species. Atlantic longlines can be up to 45 miles long, with hundreds of baited hooks.
“These horrific fishing practices are outdated,” Jane Davenport, a Defenders attorney, said. “We can’t keep fishing indiscriminately while sharks, manta rays and other accidental victims move toward extinction. As the agency charged with both conserving these imperiled species and managing U.S. fisheries, the National Marine Fisheries Service is under a double obligation to comply with the Endangered Species Act’s mandate to ensure the survival and recovery of the oceanic whitetip shark and giant manta ray.”
“The law requires these species to be given meaningful protections in the water, not just on paper,” said Earthjustice attorney Chris Eaton. “NMFS can’t allow these fisheries to continue harming the oceanic whitetip and giant manta ray unchecked. It needs to put some safeguards into place.”
A peer-reviewed study by Center scientists released in January found most marine species listed under the Endangered Species Act are recovering. Listed species with critical habitat protections and those listed for more than 20 years are most likely to be rebounding. In February 2019, Defenders and the Center also sent a detailed technical letter to the agency urging it to designate critical habitat for the giant manta ray in U.S. waters.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham yesterday signed bipartisan legislation that prohibits organizing, sponsoring or participating in coyote-killing contests in the state. Several conservation organizations praised the governor for signing the progressive, science-based legislation into law.
During these contests, participants compete to kill the greatest number, the largest or even the smallest coyotes for “entertainment” and prizes. At least 30 such contests are known to take place annually in New Mexico.
The bill, SB 76, was spearheaded by Republican Sen. Mark Moores and Sen. Jeff Steinborn, a Democrat. The bill was carried on the House floor by Rep. Matthew McQueen, also a Democrat.
“Killing contests are just blood sports. All they are about is killing as many animals as you can, and not about protecting livestock or property,” said Moores in a statement. “No one is trying to restrict landowners’ ability to kill offending coyotes, but celebrating mass killing is just not good wildlife management.”
“With the signing of this bill, New Mexico is sending a powerful message that we value our wildlife and humane treatment of them,” said Steinborn.
“This victory has been nearly two decades in the making, the culmination of a homegrown campaign waged by thousands of dedicated New Mexicans appalled that these gruesome blood sports are hosted in our state,” said Jessica Johnson, chief legislative officer for Animal Protection Voters. “Today, we as a state are taking a giant step toward thoughtful, humane wildlife management and basic human decency.”
“This law makes New Mexico a leader in following sound science in its treatment of wild carnivores,” said Michael Robinson, senior conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “We celebrate for coyotes, for endangered wolves that might have been mistakenly killed and for our children learning that humane values are New Mexico values.”
“There is no documented scientific evidence that coyote-killing contests serve any legitimate wildlife management purpose,” said Albuquerque-based Project Coyote science advisory board member Dave Parsons, a retired career wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We applaud Gov. Lujan Grisham for taking a strong stance against these ethically and ecologically indefensible events.”
“Coyotes as a species don’t deserve to be vilified. They are important ecosystem managers that regulate populations of rodents and rabbits which are significant competitors for forage with other native herbivores and even livestock,” said Mary Katherine Ray, wildlife chair of the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter and long-time resident of rural Socorro County. “The random mass killing of coyotes that occurs with killing competitions is like targeting every cocker spaniel, a similarly sized canine, for death because one may have behaved problematically. The governor was right to sign the bill to stop this.”
“This is a huge victory for New Mexico’s wildlife and New Mexicans,” said Amanda Munro, communications director for the Southwest Environmental Center. “Our wildlife deserves management that reflects broad public opinion, respects all wildlife, and is informed by modern ecological understanding about the value of all species. This bill takes New Mexico a giant step in that direction.”
“These contests are abhorrent and unjustifiable — they are neither hunting nor wildlife management,” said Christopher Smith, southern Rockies wildlife advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “Banning this activity is a step towards science-based and ethical wildlife management and we are grateful to the bill’s sponsors and supporters and the governor.”

"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" - George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting - this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." - George Orwell